As I type these lines there are only just a bit more than two hours left in 2005. And my afternoon of December 31st ... well, it was more than a bit interesting ... There is a very late elk season here in Southern Alberta for those lucky enough to get drawn. My wife has one of the few coveted permits .. and after six days of on and off elk hunting .. we found ourselves huddled in a very small group of pines (about three) .. looking over an opening in the forest where a great big bull elk had fed in the morning .. We were hoping it would come out before dark somewhere in the 180 degrees in front of us .. And as the sun set .. the bull came out of the dark timber .. walking ... He stopped 250 yards to the south west of us .. behind two dead trees .. one was still vertical .. the other was leaning on it .. with its highest point maybe ten feet up the tall one .. Occasionally we could get a glimpse of its big six point rack.. all really that we could see was its back legs and part of its belly .. My wife was three feet to my right and with that angle .. she was having a tough time seeing any of it .. The bull had stopped and was feeding. There is almost no snow around here in Southern Alberta .. and whatever the elk was eating .. in the next thirty minutes ... it never moved two feet !!! If it had moved only six feet it would have been in Margaret's sights .. And finally .. although we never felt it .. the wind must have swirled and the bull wheeled and tore off into the black timber .. He was probably a 350 bull .. had lived a long time already .. and it just wasn't its turn this afternoon .. An hour later .. in darkness I was driving home. As I went through the outskirts of a little town .. I wasn't driving very fast .. it wasn't icy .. and I was paying enough attention to spot the man dressed in black as he stepped in front of my Silverado .. looking the other way he wasn't 30 feet away. I slammed on my brakes .. stopping in time to save the man's life .. He looked around at me .. I don't know if he was drunk or suicidal ... but as with the bull elk .. it just wasn't his time to die .. as he reached the curb .. I glanced his way as I drove by. With a large swing of his arm ... he indicated that I should 'shove it !' Any ways, folks of AR .. have a Happy New Year ...

Two close calls! The bull probably had no idea how close he had come, and the guy probably knew all to well (and was likely embarassed he just about did himself in when he reacted).

Have a great New Year my friend!

Cheers,
Canuck

Right back at you, amigo !!

Hey Scruffy, Great stories!

The older you get, you will find out we never forget the close calls - Game animals or humans.

Happy New Year to you and everyone else.

Wow Scruffy, that must have been one adrenalin rush day! Wish that it had turned out different for your wife Margaret! Maybe next time!

Ahhhhhhh ... Ann ... there was another time ...Saturday afternoon was our 8th day trying for a bull elk. Sundown here is about 4:35 p.m or so .. and by 4:00 we were sitting high on a pine covered hill .. looking over a clearing where a bull had been spotted at 7:50 a.m. that morning .. in the very bad light of pre dawn going into the black timber. We had a 13 year old boy (Bowdry) with us a bit higher on the hill and he spotted a big bull heading our way. And about time we got it visual - it disappeared !! After a regular amount of high octane anguish it was spotted again. It had bedded .. in a bit of a clearing .. and had gone to sleep ... Looking through the pines .. and with the bull laying down in about the only snow on that big ranch .. it looked quite a ways away .. My amigo had a range finder and it read ... '210 yards !' Hah !!! I thought that it was time for Margaret to start slinging lead !! (By then it was 4:40 p.m.) The slope that we were on was quite steep but she found a dead tree and took aim at the bull who by now was awake and looking in our direction .. She shoots a little Remington 700 Mountain rifle in 270 and I had got her some 150 grain Nosler partitions. Federals. The musket was sighted in for 3 inches high at a hundred yards.

She spined it !!! As it rolled over, another big bull came running through the clearing ... and from looking at the tracks in the snow .. it appears that a third unseen bull was also there. Margaret had never killed an elk before. I have PM 'd Canuck asking if he would mind posting a picture or two of her bull. I am a firm believer in something that James Mellon wrote in African Hunter many years ago .. If you keep trying and trying and trying (in hunting) .. eventually the odds swing so far over in favour of the hunter that he'll get his chance ... Last night we celebrated the great bull with a wee glass of Amarula ... And so our 2005 season is ended ....I can hardly wait for Easter to go somewhere and hunt big game .. I love hunting !!!

quote:

James Mellon wrote in African Hunter many years ago .. If you keep trying and trying and trying (in hunting) .. eventually the odds swing so far over in favour of the hunter that he'll get his chance

Or as William T. Hornaday put it.."All good things come to those who wait with determination.".

Congrats! Send the pics and I'll put em up.

Cheers,
Canuck

Pic added!

Many congrats to Margaret!!!!!!

Cheers,
Canuck

Give Margaret my congrats as well. Good show. Those boys are good luck I'd say.

Chuck

Here's Bo on another bad day for the Elk.

Nice pics, congrats to you both!
Dunno what it's like in the Americas, but here in OZ the guys who seem to have the most success are the ones who are out hunting as often as they can.
It seems that way for me, anyhow. The more often I get out there, the luckier I seem to get!
Have a great New Year everyone!

Cheers, Dave.

Here is a second picture of Margaret and her elk. Richard seems almost as happy as she is.

Once again, great bull folks! Richard, where are you going to hang it?

Chuck

Fantastic Bulls!

Congratulations!

Cheers,
CL

Fantastic... congrat's!

Good question, Chuck. After about 35 years of mounting stuff I have managed to fill up the ol' house pretty good. We will certainly mount Margaret's beautiful bull but Dave still has to mount my bull from last year .. and there is no room for that bad boy. My solution, as Scarlett O'Hara sort of said in 'Gone With the Wind' .. "I'll worry about it tomorrow." It's not a bad problem.

Wow, monsters for sure! Very nice. Congratulations!